


Stirring of the Wind

by Tai_Kuroba



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Rikucentric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 02:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/907609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tai_Kuroba/pseuds/Tai_Kuroba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before the adventure started there was a decision to build a raft...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stirring of the Wind

Under a sky filled to bursting with glittering stars a small bit of the sun was kept alive in a campfire that blazed on the island below. Three children, exhausted from the play of the day, sat around it and basked in the feeling of being very grown up. The other children had gone home and they were the only people left on the smaller island, having secured permission from their families to camp there overnight. They had gathered the wood for their fire, set up a tent and found their own food, some of which was filling the air with a delicious scent as it cooked. With a rustle the only girl in the group emerged from the bushes with triumph in her eyes and stains on her skin from the berries she had accumulated. As she put their dessert on a palm leaf she took stock of the pile of empty sticks and gave the boy who hadn’t bothered to put his shirt back on a smack on the back of the head.“Sora, quit hogging all the fish! You’re such a pig,” she said and her tone was light and friendly although she tried to look stern as she sat cross-legged on the sand next to him. 

The brown haired boy tried to reply around the huge mouthful he’d just taken but she refused to acknowledge him until he swallowed, which he did with great effort. “Aw, come on Kairi I’m really hungry. Besides, Riku and I caught plenty!” His nose crinkled as a thought came to him a bit too late. “Anyway, how do you know I ate them all? Riku could’ve done it too.”

At the sound of his name the oldest of the group looked over from the log where he sat and raised an incredulous eyebrow. “You mean _I_ caught plenty. You were too busy playing around in the surf to catch much. And it’s obvious who the glutton here is.” He pointed wordlessly to the much smaller pile of sticks that sat next to him.

Sora pouted and flopped onto his back in the sand while Kairi giggled, taking a fish of her own from the fire to eat, enjoying the fresh taste. They sat in amiable silence for a time and Riku watched as Sora grew more and more restless; first fidgeting with his swim trunks, then bouncing a leg and biting his lower lip until finally he couldn’t take it anymore and threw some sand at Riku. This begat a swift retaliation in the form of a fish bone and then Sora leapt at Riku, causing Kairi to jump up with a squeal and retreat to protect her still unfinished meal from flying sand. The boys wrestled, miraculously avoiding the fire. Sora got a good grip on Riku’s leg but before he could destabilize him Riku twisted free and caught Sora in a headlock. Sora struggled and pulled but Riku was larger and stronger and eventually he had to give in. Kairi had claimed Riku’s log for her own so he sat down next to Sora, who had already sprawled his body back onto the ground. He opened one eye and attempted a glare at the silver haired boy. “Just you wait, I’ll beat you one day.”

Riku put a hand to his chin and looked up at the stars. “Hmmm, let me think… No.”

Kairi made a sympathetic noise as she swallowed her last bite before smiling. “Don’t worry Sora; you probably just haven’t challenged him to the right contest yet.”

“Well nothing I’ve thought of’s _worked_.”

Riku smirked. “That’s because I’m better than you at everything and your ideas suck.”

Kairi was thinking so hard her tongue was poking out as she slowly spoke, “What about an eating contest?”

“Tried it.” Sora scowled, pointing accusingly at Riku. “He ate seventeen hot dogs in like, ten minutes!”

“Hmm… log balancing?”

Sora crossed his arms. “I fell off after two hours.”

“Test scores?”

Riku scoffed. “Please.”

“Flower crown making?” She suggested, throwing her hands up in exasperation. She’d been half kidding but Sora hunched further while Riku puffed up with smugness and her expression grew slack with surprise. “No way. You actually challenged him to a flower crown contest?” She swung her gaze over to Riku, who took it as his due. “And you _won?_ ”

“Selphie was the judge,” Sora said, poking glumly at a sand dollar. “I still say you bribed her somehow.”

“Actually, my mother showed me how to do it.” Riku said. “I’ll need to know how when I propose after all.”

Sora sputtered, “But we aren’t getting married for ages! Why'd she show you now?”

“Why didn’t you practice before challenging me?” Riku shook his head. “You sure can be dumb sometimes.”

Sora opened his mouth but Kairi jumped in before he could say anything. “Sora’s not dumb! Don’t be rude Riku.” Sora sat silent, unsure of this new development.

Riku’s eyebrows twitched but he didn’t retaliate. “So, what do you guys want to do tomorrow?”

The question allowed the tension in the air to dissipate like the smoke from their fire. However, the effects of it had permeated their minds as the acrid smell did their skin. Though they thought as hard as they could neither girl nor boy had any real ideas; and so the question was put back on its asker.

“Well,” said Riku as he stared into the fire. “I was thinking that we could build a raft.”

Sora cocked his head curiously. “A raft? I dunno, it sounds like a lot of work.”

But Riku pressed on, so impassioned by his idea that the fire seemed to live in his gaze rather than just being reflected there. “It wouldn’t be that hard! We could take provisions and go exploring. A really long journey, until we found another land even.”

Kairi twirled some of her red hair around her finger. “My father said there isn’t any other land,” she said, glancing at Sora who seemed torn between intrigue and doubt.

Riku shifted, feeling the grit of the sand shift under his palms. “What do the adults know; they’ve never left this stupid island. We could be the first to find a whole new world!”  
That caught Sora’s imagination, “Yeah, who knows what could be out there! We might find an island with talking animals, or buried treasure.”

Kairi warmed up when Sora did and the two quickly descended into fantastical chatter, imagining struggles with pirates and dealing with tricky mermaids, not noticing Riku’s withdrawal from their talk. He clenched a fist against the tide of despondence and frustration that welled up inside him. It had taken two weeks of thinking and rethinking to work up the confidence to share his plan with his two closest friends. He’d spent so long trying to come up with the right words… And they had thrown it back at him, in their clumsy and innocent way, by reducing it to nothing more than another game. They didn’t, couldn't, realize how many restless nights he had spent pacing around his room, the same one his mother spent hours painting when she learned she was pregnant with him, trying not to think _'cage'_ ; or how many times he had run the miles from his house only to slam into the beach and scream into the surf until his voice gave out and always inside him something whispering that he was meant for so much more than this. 

He stood abruptly, suddenly stifled by the fire’s glow. He forced the frustration from his stance, making himself walk loose and easily away from his friends. Sora didn’t pause in the elaborate play he was putting on for Kairi’s amusement, secure in the knowledge that nothing on the island was more formidable than Riku. As he walked into the jungle and away from the crackle of flames and shrieks of laughter the feeling of discontent only grew, sinking deep into his brain and smothering all other thought. He clenched his jaw against it until it hurt, refusing to give into the desire to sprint until he collapsed. What would Sora and Kairi say if they saw him acting so weak? He was only a year older than they but it felt like so much more sometimes. They were children still, able to stumble and fail and brush it off with a laugh and the determination to try again. Everyone knew Riku excelled at everything he tried; it was what made him so popular among his peers. Everyone knew Riku was well behaved and intelligent; it was made him so popular among the adults. Everyone knew Riku never made mistakes; that was what made him Riku. 

He was sprinting by this point, when had that happened, and he was leaping over roots and logs as branches whipped against his face. He crashed out of the woods and onto the beach, unable to go any further. His chest heaved and muscles shook as he took in huge, ragged breaths. The gentle ocean breeze was abrasive, each mild gust that stirred his hair kicking up what felt like a sandstorm inside, eroding his intestines until he was left hollow and lifeless. His legs gave out and he collapsed into the sand, feeling the waves wash up over his legs and soak into his socks. He would build the raft; the ocean wouldn’t keep him penned forever and even if Sora and Kairi thought it was a joke now they would thank him later, once they realized how free they were. He sat in the surf with his eyes squeezed tight pretending to be anywhere else, shutting out his world with his will. He’d had a lot of practice.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh god what am I doing. Um... Okay, hi! This is the first thing I'm posting here on AO3 so I figured I'd start with the first fanfiction I've written in a very long time. I'm planning to edit and post stuff from my ff.net account as well, if you wanna find me there I have the same username (I use it EVERYWHERE ON THE INTERNET). I will get the hang of this eventually I swear.


End file.
